monckton hitler youth

Climate deniers often like to talk about “global warming profiteers,” some mysterious breed led by Al Gore who, so the story goes, are out to make the big bucks off scaring people about climate change. But if there’s anyone making money off lying about global warming these days, it is “Lord” Christopher Monckton, who continues his globetrotting tour to hawk confusion and misinformation at the Bonn climate talks this month.

Lord Christopher Monckton, infamous for his “Hitler Youth” comments at the Copenhagen climate summit, is among the guest speakers at this week’s Tax Day Tea Party in Washington, DC. Organized by FreedomWorks, the sister organization of Americans for Prosperity, the Tax Day Tea Party at the Washington Monument will also feature appearances from FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey and President Matt Kibbe, right wing publisher Andrew Breitbart, Texas Congressman Ron Paul and Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson.

“It was not I who called them Hitler Youth. It was three Germans and a Dane in the audience.”

It would appear that a more appropriate title than “climate denier” for Monckton, might be “reality denier.” For Monckton to now deny what he has admitted repeatedly on tape as doing, shows just how willing he is to bend the truth.

After lying to Associated Press about his Hitler youth comments, Monckton then proceeded to compare the climate activists to Adolf Hitler’s fascist army, saying the activists were attempting to stifle free speech, using tactics “last seen here when the Nazis occupied Denmark.”

Yesterday he ambushed a small group of students from the non-profit SustainUS inside the Bella centre. One of them texted her friends for help. Several arrived, including Ben Wessel, a 20-year-old activist from Middlebury College, Vermont.

Monckton then repeatedly called them “Nazis” and “Hitler Youth”. When Wessel told him that his family were Jewish, Monckton carried on.

“I was so surprised,” Wessel said today. “I hoped to have a more civil conversation with the man. It’s fine that we have differences, but it’s not okay to pull out such hateful language.”

Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.